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US-12624597-B1 - Integrated steam drill

US12624597B1US 12624597 B1US12624597 B1US 12624597B1US-12624597-B1

Abstract

An integrated steam drill includes a drill rod. The drill rod includes a drill bit. A steam generator and an air-liquid mixing assembly are sequentially provided at positions of the drill rod facing toward the drill bit in that order. The air-liquid mixing assembly includes a liquid storage component and an air pipeline. The air pipeline is connected to an atomizer including an air-liquid mixing chamber. The steam generator is internally provided with a coil pipe and a combustion mechanism. An inlet end of the coil pipe is connected to an outlet end of the air pipeline. The combustion mechanism faces toward the coil pipe and is configured for connecting an external gas source. An end of the drill bit is connected to the steam generator, and another end of the drill bit is provided with a nozzle. The nozzle is connected to an outlet end of the coil pipe.

Inventors

  • Haidong Han
  • Donghui Shangguan

Assignees

  • Nothwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20251202
Priority Date
20250908

Claims (10)

  1. 1 . An integrated steam drill, comprising a drill rod; wherein the drill rod comprises a drill bit ( 1 ), and a steam generator ( 2 ) and an air-liquid mixing assembly ( 3 ) are sequentially provided at positions of the drill rod facing toward the drill bit ( 1 ) in that order; wherein the air-liquid mixing assembly ( 3 ) comprises a liquid storage component ( 31 ) with a liquid storage chamber ( 310 ), and an air pipeline ( 32 ) configured for connecting an external high-pressure air source; the air pipeline ( 32 ) is connected to an atomizer, an air-liquid mixing chamber ( 93 ) connected to an upstream and a downstream of the air pipeline ( 32 ) is defined inside the atomizer, and the air-liquid mixing chamber ( 93 ) is connected to the liquid storage chamber ( 310 ); the atomizer is configured to atomize water stored in the liquid storage chamber ( 310 ) to thereby obtain atomized water droplets for flowing into the air-liquid mixing chamber ( 93 ) and mixing with high-pressure air in the air pipeline ( 32 ) to form an air-liquid mixture; wherein the steam generator ( 2 ) is internally provided with a coil pipe ( 21 ) and a combustion mechanism ( 4 ); an inlet end of the coil pipe ( 21 ) is connected to an outlet end of the air pipeline ( 32 ); the combustion mechanism ( 4 ) faces toward the coil pipe ( 21 ) and is configured for connecting an external gas source; and the combustion mechanism ( 4 ) is configured to heat the air-liquid mixture in the coil pipe ( 21 ) into steam by burning gas; and wherein an end of the drill bit ( 1 ) is connected to the steam generator ( 2 ), and a nozzle ( 11 ) is disposed on another end of the drill bit ( 1 ); and the nozzle ( 11 ) is connected to an outlet end of the coil pipe ( 21 ).
  2. 2 . The integrated steam drill as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the atomizer is an atomizing tube ( 9 ), the air-liquid mixing chamber ( 93 ) is an inner chamber of the atomizing tube ( 9 ), an outer wall of the atomizing tube ( 9 ) is defined with a plurality of atomizing holes ( 92 ), and a filter ( 91 ) with a tubular shape is sleeved outside the atomizing tube ( 9 ) to filter impurities in the water; and wherein the air pipeline ( 32 ) extends into the liquid storage chamber ( 310 ), the atomizing tube ( 9 ) is disposed inside the liquid storage chamber ( 310 ), and the atomizing tube ( 9 ) is connected to the upstream and the downstream of the air pipeline ( 32 ).
  3. 3 . The integrated steam drill as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a flow channel ( 12 ) is defined inside the nozzle ( 11 ), and a diameter of the flow channel ( 12 ) gradually increases along a flow direction of a medium in the flow channel ( 12 ).
  4. 4 . The integrated steam drill as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the combustion mechanism ( 4 ) comprises a gas-air mixing chamber ( 41 ) facing toward the coil pipe ( 21 ); a spray hole ( 43 ) is defined on the gas-air mixing chamber ( 41 ), and an ignition component ( 42 ) is disposed on a side of the spray hole ( 43 ); and wherein the gas-air mixing chamber ( 41 ) is configured for connecting the external gas source and the external high-pressure air source; the gas-air mixing chamber ( 41 ) is configured to mix external air from the external high-pressure air source and external gas from the external gas source to obtain a gas-air mixture and spray out the gas-air mixture from the spray hole ( 43 ); and the ignition component ( 42 ) is configured to ignite the gas-air mixture.
  5. 5 . The integrated steam drill as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the steam generator ( 2 ) further comprises a combustion chamber ( 22 ), and the coil pipe ( 21 ) and the combustion mechanism ( 4 ) are disposed inside the combustion chamber ( 22 ); and wherein a drill bit connector ( 5 ) is detachably connected to an end of the combustion chamber ( 22 ), and an end of the drill bit connector ( 5 ) facing away from the combustion chamber ( 22 ) is detachably connected to the drill bit ( 1 ); and the drill bit connector ( 5 ) is provided with a first connecting pipe ( 51 ), an end of the first connecting pipe ( 51 ) is connected to the coil pipe ( 21 ) disposed inside the combustion chamber ( 22 ), and another end of the first connecting pipe ( 51 ) is connected to the nozzle ( 11 ) defined inside the drill bit ( 1 ).
  6. 6 . The integrated steam drill as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the liquid storage component ( 31 ) and the combustion chamber ( 22 ) are both tubular bodies; an end of the liquid storage component ( 31 ) is threaded to an end of the combustion chamber ( 22 ); a connecting piece ( 6 ) is disposed inside the liquid storage component ( 31 ) or the combustion chamber ( 22 ), and the connecting piece ( 6 ) is configured to separate the liquid storage chamber ( 310 ) of the liquid storage component ( 31 ) from an inner chamber of the combustion chamber ( 22 ).
  7. 7 . The integrated steam drill as claimed in claim 6 , wherein a second connecting pipe ( 61 ), a third connecting pipe ( 62 ), a fourth connecting pipe ( 63 ), and a fifth connecting pipe ( 64 ) are disposed on the connecting piece ( 6 ); and an end of the second connecting pipe ( 61 ) is configured for connecting the external gas source, an end of the third connecting pipe ( 62 ) is configured for connecting the external high-pressure air source, and another end of the second connecting pipe ( 61 ) and another end of the third connecting pipe ( 62 ) are both connected to an inner chamber of the gas-air mixing chamber ( 41 ); an end of the fourth connecting pipe ( 63 ) is connected to the outlet end of the air pipeline ( 32 ), and another end of the fourth connecting pipe ( 63 ) is connected to the inlet end of the coil pipe ( 21 ); and an end of the fifth connecting pipe ( 64 ) is connected to the inner chamber of the combustion chamber ( 22 ), and another end of the fifth connecting pipe ( 64 ) is connected to an exhaust pipe ( 65 ) leading to an outside.
  8. 8 . The integrated steam drill as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the end of the second connecting pipe ( 61 ) facing toward the liquid storage component ( 31 ) is connected to a gas pipeline ( 66 ) for connecting the external gas source, and the end of the third connecting pipe ( 62 ) facing toward the liquid storage component ( 31 ) is connected to an air pipe ( 67 ) for connecting the external high-pressure air source; and an end of each of the air pipeline ( 32 ), the exhaust pipe ( 65 ), the gas pipeline ( 66 ), and the air pipe ( 67 ) extends into the liquid storage component ( 31 ).
  9. 9 . The integrated steam drill as claimed in claim 8 , wherein a side of the combustion chamber ( 22 ) is defined with a flame observation hole ( 23 ), and a transparent glass ( 24 ) with high-temperature resistance is installed in the flame observation hole.
  10. 10 . The integrated steam drill as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the coil pipe ( 21 ) is a conical spiral coil pipe.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202511270569.4, filed on Sep. 8, 2025, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The disclosure relates to the technical field of steam drills, and more particularly to an integrated steam drill. BACKGROUND In research on glaciers, an operation of drilling holes on ice surfaces is frequently required to extract ice cores for physical analysis, install ablation stakes on the ice surfaces, detect subsurface ice structures, or detect physical properties within ice. Glacier drill rigs are classified into two categories: core-drilling rigs and hole-drilling rigs. The core-drilling rigs are mainly used to extract the ice cores. Although the core-drilling rigs can also form glacier drilling holes simultaneously; due to issues such as bulky structures, numerous auxiliary equipment, and slow drilling speeds, the core-drilling rigs are rarely used in glaciological measurements where to drill holes is a main objective. The hole-drilling rigs mainly include steam drills, hot water drills, electric heating drills, etc. Due to issues of large overall weight, high energy consumption, and slow drilling speed of the hot water drills and the electric heating drills, the steam drills are widely used for glacier drilling at present. A steam drill consists of a steam generator, a drill bit, a water pipe, etc. During operation, the steam generator is placed steadily on an ice surface, and 4 liters (L) to 5 L of clean water is pre-filled in a pressure vessel of the steam generator. A gas furnace at a bottom of the steam generator can heat the water in the pressure vessel to boil and generate steam. When a pressure of the steam reaches 0.2 megapascal (MPa) to 0.3 MPa, a valve is opened to allow the steam to be sprayed out through the water pipe and the drill bit for drilling in the ice. The drill bit of the steam drill is a straight-through copper tube with a length of 60 centimeters (cm), and one or more nozzles are provided on a head part of the drill bit to facilitate the steam spraying. When the pressure of the steam drops to a range of 0.05 MPa to 0.1 MPa, the valve is closed, and the above process is repeated when the pressure of the steam increases. The steam drills in the art have exposed some insurmountable shortcomings in operation, such as: (1) in order to reduce a weight of the steam drill and make it easy to carry in glacier areas, the steam generators is made of aluminum, and a thickness of a wall of the pressure vessel is relatively thin, with a working pressure generally less than 0.3 MPa; therefore, the steam drills in the art are limited in drilling depth due to low working pressure; (2) the steam drills in the art use a split design of the steam generator and the drill bit; the steam with high-temperature generated by the steam generator is transported to the drill bit through the water pipe and then sprayed out for drilling; during this process, although the water pipe adopts insulation measures to minimize a heat loss of the steam during transportation, because a drilling hole is full of molten water, a considerable amount of heat is still lost through a wall of the water pipe due to increasing water temperature inside the drilling hole; additionally, as the drilling depth increases, a heat dissipation of the water pipe also increases rapidly, thereby reducing a drilling speed. In addition, during a process of the steam with high temperature reaching the drill bit through the water pipe, the pressure and temperature of the steam at the nozzle of the drill bit are decreased due to the steam expanding inside the water tube. When the water pipe is long, a pressure loss and the heat loss caused by the steam expanding inside the water tube will be difficult to ignore, directly affecting drilling efficiency of the drill bit. SUMMARY To solve the aforementioned technical problems, the disclosure provides an integrated steam ice drill. An integrated steam drill provided by the disclosure includes a drill rod. The drill rod includes a drill bit. A steam generator and an air-liquid mixing assembly are sequentially provided at positions of the drill rod facing toward the drill bit in that order. The air-liquid mixing assembly includes a liquid storage component with a liquid storage chamber, and an air pipeline configured for connecting an external high-pressure air source. The air pipeline is connected to an atomizer. An air-liquid mixing chamber connected to an upstream and a downstream of the air pipeline is defined inside the atomizer. The atomizer is configured to atomize water stored in the liquid storage chamber to thereby obtain atomized water droplets for flowing into the air-liquid mixing chamber and mixing with high-pressure air in the air pipeline to form an air-liquid mixture. The steam generator is internally provided with a coil pipe and a combustion mechanism. An inlet